One of the primary dangers for all of us in God’s Church is Laodiceanism. We are definitely in what the Bible indicates is the “last era”—the last Church age just before the Tribulation.
The Apostle John was inspired to describe this era in very clear terms in Revelation 3:14–22. Note that this era is condemned not for any specific doctrinal errors, but for a complacent, lukewarm attitude. So those who are Laodiceans may have a “watered down” approach to doctrine in general, but they appear to have most of the Truth. It is just that they are complacent and may say, in effect: “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (v. 17). Yet, in God’s eyes, they are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked” (ibid.).
Where do I stand? Where do you stand?
Each of us must constantly try to objectively evaluate ourselves—not other people. And I warn you solemnly that not all Laodiceans are in the “other” groups! For we in the Living Church of God have a certain number of Laodiceans, and all of us are in danger of becoming that way if we succumb to the dominant tendency of this Church age—and of the society around us.
How can we resist that pull? Jesus Christ has commissioned His Church to do a special Work, to fully prepare for the Kingdom of God all who will listen. For we are not only warning our peoples about the coming Great Tribulation, and carrying out the “Ezekiel commission” (Ezekiel 33:1–7); we are also preaching the full Gospel—or “good news”—of the coming Kingdom or Government of God, soon to take over this earth (Matthew 24:14). In addition, we are proclaiming the full name of Jesus Christ—the vital importance of our surrendering to Him and His ways, and of Him living His life within us through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 2:20). Also, we are following the biblical pattern of government within this Work, looking to the living Christ to set His servants in positions of leadership since He is the living Head of the Church (Ephesians 1:20–23).
Jesus Christ warned: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:15–16).
Even among God’s people, there are those who exalt themselves, preach part of the Truth—and then go on to mislead their followers regarding many details of prophecy, the purpose of life and the way of life revealed by Christ’s teachings in the New Testament. They will often reject basic truths from the Bible—even though they claim to follow it. And they will often harass, disfellowship or even crush those who oppose or even question their wrong teachings and their harsh, unchristian practices.
God specifically warns us that the final “era” or “age” of His Church will be dominated by the “Laodicean attitude.” These people are not condemned for wrong doctrines or immoral practices. Rather, God simply describes how these seemingly “nice” people who practice and believe part of the Truth are nevertheless to be spewed out of Christ’s mouth because of one huge problem: lukewarmness. Jesus said, “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:16–19).
Dear friends and brethren, as we see the final events of this age begin to get underway, it is vital that we each strive to get completely “right” with our God! Please carefully think over and pray about the above points. Please do everything you can to get closer to the true God and theWork He is using at this end time. Try with all your heart to do your best in serving Jesus Christ and involving yourself in His Work. We all need to follow the examples of the great men and women of God, who “cried out” to their Creator when they were in danger. And the danger of some of us becoming Laodicean is much greater than many of us may think! When the prophet Daniel felt discouraged by the continuing captivity of his people—and perhaps the general malaise among them—he began to zealously seek God. “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, ‘O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land’” (Daniel 9:3–6).
If we each sense the “Laodicean pull” and begin to seek God as Daniel did, we—through our prayers and fasting—may help prevent not only ourselves but many of our fellow Church members from becoming Laodicean. In today’s worldwide climate of compromise and corruption, it is all too easy for us to “drift” into Laodiceanism without even realizing what is happening! The Apostle Paul’s exhortation certainly applies today in a special way: “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:12–13).
Please note that Paul said to “exhort one another daily.” The word “exhort” means “to urge, advise or admonish urgently.” So we should regularly admonish and encourage each other to study, to pray and to grow spiritually—and to do all that we can to prepare for God’s Kingdom. Certainly, Paul did not mean that we should self-righteously preach at each other or “pick” at our fellow Christians. But, in deep love and concern as brethren, we should be our “brothers’ keepers” in the sense that we do reach out to help encourage and even admonish a weak brother or sister who is perhaps drifting away from the Truth and from the Church.
And, again, we should be diligent in making sure that we are not “watering down” our full commitment to Christ in thoughts or actions. As the Apostle Paul said: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14).
Do you and I truly bear down and press toward the goal of Christ’s sooncoming Kingdom?
For some years, I have emphasized to you brethren the profound need we all have to genuinely study the Bible and to “feed” on Christ—really reading and meditating on key passages in the Bible over and over, marking them and even committing some of them to memory. But, at this point, I would also urge you to remember why the Bible was written: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16– 17).
Let us all remember that the Bible was inspired by God not only to teach us true doctrine, but for reproof and for correction. How many thousands of Catholic monks and Protestant ministers down through the ages have studied and studied the Bible through the lens of their own preconceived ideas and have, therefore, never learned the full Truth, never been fully “conquered” by God and never truly surrendered to do what God clearly says?
Please think about that!
The approach of just studying the Bible the way we would study any book on history or philosophy is not good enough! Rather, we must humbly, prayerfully open our Bibles with the profound understanding that God is going to teach us concepts and approaches that we do not already understand. We must desire that—through His inspired word—He will correct us and reprove us where we are wrong, that He will fashion and mold our thoughts and actions and that, over time, He will bring us into genuine alignment with the way He thinks.
God tells us: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8–9). So a vital part of our Bible study and our church attendance— including our attitude in listening to the sermons—is to sincerely seek to find out where we are wrong, where we need to change! We must come to God and to His inspired word sincerely “seeking” for His mind and His approach—not our own!
Do you do that?
Are you, personally, willing to take correction from God through His inspired word and from the sermons that are preached by true ministers in His Church? If not, why not?
Dear brethren, we must all be corrected, be changed and be fashioned and molded by God into the image of Jesus Christ our Savior. As Paul said: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
I encourage every one of you to go “all out” in seeking to be more like Jesus Christ, and in preparing to have a vital part in the soon-coming government of God to be set up here on Earth. For Christ did not praise the fellow who, though perhaps “nice,” was spiritually lazy and hid his talent in the ground: “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest’” (Matthew 25:26–27).
We need to learn to seek the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)! As part of that effort, we had better go “all out” to avoid becoming lukewarm Laodiceans! For we in God’s true Church—now “in training” to be the kings and priests under Christ in Tomorrow’s World—are to be the “salt” of this earth. We are to impart that special zestful flavor that our God and our Lord Jesus Christ will see when looking upon humanity. For Jesus said: “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Luke 14:33–35).